1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to laser systems configured with a power supply which is operative to generate electrical pulses each characterized by a high peak current rating which results in long, powerful optical pulses.
2. Discussion of Known Prior Art
A laser's pumping scheme can be either continuous (cw) or pulsed. The pulsed pumping exclusively operates in brief, discrete time intervals. Traditional solid-state lasers utilize crystals configured to accumulate the energy by providing an excessive inversion for generating high power optical pulses of up to several J. Fiber lasers, in contrast to solid-state lasers, are poorly suited for storing the energy because of a relatively small core of rare-earth doped fibers.
One of the alternative methods of radiating high-energy pulses by fiber lasers includes pumping the laser material with an optical source, such as laser diodes, which are themselves pulsed. This method may impose power scaling limitations on a power source, which is designed to work in a continuous regime, since the electrical pulses are characterized by high current substantially exceeding that one in the continuous regime. If the electrical pulse is long enough, which is desirable, the overcurrent protection system limits the output current, and the power source is not able to provide the required peak power. Such an interruption leads to an inadequate performance of power source operating in the pulsed regime.
FIG. 1 illustrates an attempt to somewhat minimize the above-discussed problem by coupling a capacitor “C” across the output of a power supply source. Due to a high current pulse, the voltage across the capacitor “C” slightly drops. The power source begins to compensate for the drop but is soon limited by an overcurrent circuitry operative to prevent the source overload. Subsequently, the source is either tuned off or continues to work with the limited current allowed by the design of the source.
Powerful supply sources could somewhat alleviate the disclosed problem. However, powerful sources do not provide a viable solution because the known configurations are neither compact nor cost-efficient.
A need therefore exists for a laser system with a power supply source that can handle the peak current, yet provide the normal (non-peak) operating power.